I do not stock my business materials, I buy flooring for each contract separately. How to report donation of inventory leftovers?

[mamacow]

I use Material and Supply expenses, not inventory, for my independent contractor business. This year for the first time, I started to donate leftover materials instead of trying to re-use or dispose of them. I have receipts few thousand dollars worth for these donations. Cannot find logical place for this item in business related topics.

[AnnetteB · Accepted solution]

As a sole-proprietor, your business income and expenses are all included as part of your personal tax return.  Any charitable contributions made through your business are included on Schedule A Itemized Deductions along with any other personal contributions you may have made through the year.  There is not a way to deduct the contributions through the business.

Use the following steps to go to the section of your return to enter your donations:

• On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)

• This opens a box where you can type in “charitable contributions” (be sure to enter exactly as shown here) and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)

• The search results will give you an option to “Jump to charitable contributions”

• Click on the blue “Jump to charitable contributions” link and enter your information

[TomYoung]

Of course you have to make sure you don't "double count" the donation by reporting the dollars both on your Schedule C AND on your Schedule A.

[mamacow]

Thank you, this helps.